Younger Fitz is ready for his closeup
Matt Fitzpatrick's little brother, Alex, seeks his maiden win at Euro Masters
Alex Fitzpatrick is finding his form on DP World Tour (Warren Little/Getty Images)
Wouldn’t Switzerland be a nice place to get your first DP World Tour win?
Sitting in a tie on top of the Omega European Masters leaderboard is England’s Alex Fitzpatrick.
This is the same Fitzpatrick whose claim to fame is that his older brother, Matt, is a U.S. Open champion and Ryder Cup veteran.
The 25-year-old Alex is five years younger than big brother, and while his game is not yet fully formed, the younger Fitzpatrick has a lot of fight in him and decent pedigree of his own. The former Wake Forest golfer was a two-time Walker Cupper (2019 and ’21) and reached as high as No. 4 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
“I feel like I’ve always tried to have confidence in myself, and sometimes I think I let it get to me rather than actually believing in my ability, and lucky I have a great group around me who push me and try and give me as much confidence as possible,” Fitzpatrick said after his final round at the Open Championship last year at Royal Liverpool — where he finished T17, four strokes better than his brother who tied 41st.
Since Hoylake, the younger Fitzpatrick hasn’t struggled but has not put together four rounds that would catapult him to success.
Deciding to take a break almost three weeks off after missing the cut at the BMW International Open, Fitzpatrick came back with a much better attitude, and his performance has shown marked improvement.
A T6 at the Czech Masters two weeks ago and last week's Betfred British Masters T12, Fitzpatrick seems on a roll.
After shooting a bogey-free 7-under 63 in the first round, Fitzpatrick may be putting all the pieces together. It would be fitting if he finally broke his maiden at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in Switzerland where his brother won back to back in 2017-18.
“I got the nice side of the draw to be honest, this morning was brutal and luckily the last eight or nine holes there was not much wind so it was nice to capitalize on the opportunities I had and hopefully the same tomorrow,” Fitzpatrick said.
Sometimes, it comes down to a bit of luck: getting a better draw than the other half of the field. Taking advantage and letting the other guys complain that they got the worst end of it.
Fitzpatrick has one round above par in the last nine rounds, his best run since January when he started the year in the Middle East with consecutive T16 finishes.
“The wind was a difficult factor for putting, later on in the day the greens, with how much its rained, were fairly soft and having 3-footers on these greens with the wind was pretty tricky,” Fitzpatrick said. “I was happy to nudge them close as much as I could. Just happy to have a good back nine and finish the way I did. I hit it really nicely all day.”
Playing their way into Presidents Cup
After a whole week off since the 2024 PGA Tour season ended, the FedEx Cup Fall Series begins next week in Napa, Calif., with the Procore Championship — formerly sponsored by Fortinet … and Safeway … and Fry’s.
The event at Silverado Resort will feature 11 representatives from the upcoming Presidents Cup teams, including team captains Jim Furyk and Mike Weir, three captain’s assistants and six players who will tee it up at Royal Montreal Sept. 24–29.
Team USA will have a strong presence in the field, with Wyndham Clark, defending champion Sahith Theegala and two-time Napa event winner Max Homa competing along with Furyk and assistant captains Kevin Kisner and Stewart Cink, the 2020 winner at Silverado.
The International team will also have three players in the Procore field: Australian Min Woo Lee and Canadians Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes. International captain Weir — who won the original Fry’s Electronics Open in 2007 when it was played in Scottsdale, Ariz. — will play along with his assistant captain Camilo Villegas of Colombia.